Nadella to Microsoft: “Devices and services” out, but still “mobile first, cloud first”

Xbox, Surface remain safe, even without the device focus.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sent a company-wide (and public) e-mail to mark the start of the company's 2015 financial year. The message announces a forthcoming reorganization and a shift in focus away from the "devices and services" that Steve Ballmer pushed toward the end of his time at the company.

It's not entirely clear what that new focus really is, however. Nadella isn't doing away with his "mobile first, cloud first" mantra, as mathematically challenged as it is, and "mobile first, cloud first" still seems to feel a lot like "devices and services." The lynchpin of the mobile experience is the device; the raison d'être of the cloud is to provide services.

The e-mail reinforces some themes that we've already seen from the company in past months. Nadella says that Microsoft's apps will be "built for other ecosystems," a policy that's already extant with apps including OneDrive, Skype, and most recently, Office. The parallel positioning of Visual Studio as an environment that's increasingly suitable for cross platform development lines up neatly with this.

Organizationally, the e-mail includes a few concrete details. In particular, it says that there will be fewer internal processes and fewer people involved in making each decision, reducing the bureaucracy that Microsoft has been criticized for in the past. Consistent with this, Nadella intends to "flatten the organization" and "develop leaner business processes."

More vaguely, he talks about enhanced training and greater opportunities for people to change positions. There's widespread speculation that the company will be announcing layoffs in the next few months—the many tens of thousands of Nokia employees would appear to be a ripe target for downsizing—and a broader commitment to retraining could be part of a plan to retain some staff even if their positions have been eliminated.

There's also a new focus on customers. More than just a focus—"[Microsoft] will obsess over [its] customers," from engineering to sales and marketing.

In spite of the de-emphasis on devices, Nadella says explicitly that the Xbox is safe, writing that the company "will continue to vigorously innovate and delight gamers with Xbox." Other first party hardware doesn't seem to be going away either, with the Microsoft CEO saying, "We will build first-party hardware to stimulate more demand for the entire Windows ecosystem."

Overall, however, the most striking thing about the e-mail was how little it really said. It's about 3,000 words that fail to set a clear direction and appear almost contradictory. The disavowal of the "devices and services" mantra may be an attempt by Satya Nadella to consign Steve Ballmer's legacy to the past, but the continued focus on "mobile first, cloud first," combined with the clear statement that first-party hardware remains part of Microsoft's plan for the future, suggests that the perception of change is perhaps more important than actually changing anything.